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Topic: help writing a letter to an office? (Read 6387 times)

For #1, I think I'd go more with, she (and two other people) didn't know how to process the option I'd chosen, though they eventually figured it out after X minutes. Again, pointing out that there was a way to process your option, but none of the three knew it. More training!

Also, I would roll #3 and 4 together. I know what you mean about "talked over my head" and "talked about me," but I don't think those are objectively bad things. It was really how she spoke and what she said that were rude, and that plays into #4 only. For example, I've had people in a store say, "Barb, this customer has a question. Do you know where she can find the TPS forms?" Really, that's talking about me while I'm right there, but it's done in a perfectly polite and professional way.

I think the quote you gave would make a great example for #2. It gives exact words, and it's hard to picture them in anything but a snotty tone.

For #1, I think I'd go more with, she (and two other people) didn't know how to process the option I'd chosen, though they eventually figured it out after X minutes. Again, pointing out that there was a way to process your option, but none of the three knew it. More training!

Also, I would roll #3 and 4 together. I know what you mean about "talked over my head" and "talked about me," but I don't think those are objectively bad things. It was really how she spoke and what she said that were rude, and that plays into #4 only. For example, I've had people in a store say, "Barb, this customer has a question. Do you know where she can find the TPS forms?" Really, that's talking about me while I'm right there, but it's done in a perfectly polite and professional way.

I think the quote you gave would make a great example for #2. It gives exact words, and it's hard to picture them in anything but a snotty tone.

What was said over my head was something like this:

Clara: Rob, can you come here and help us with a form?Rob: Sure, what's up?---Rob walks up behind me, and is now standing behind, and to the side of my chair. Clara & my intake person are sitting on the other side of the desk, facing me---Clara: <Explains I don't want to check either box & how they can't figure out how to enter that>Rob: Why would she not want to check either box? You have to check a boxClara: Well, some people have problems with these boxes I guess. Some people have a lot of problems these days.Me: The form clearly states that I don't have to check any of the boxes, and states what it means if I don't check either boxClara: No, you're reading it wrong <explains it to me incorrectly>Me: No, reread this part and this part, they contradict what you just saidRob: <reading the boxes over my head> Is this really a problem? It's just a simple form. Clara: (to Rob) I know. Most people just check option 1 and move on. This isn't a big deal. (to me) You should just really check option 1 because <explains form incorrectly again>Me: I do not want to check option 1. I have already told you that I do not want to check option one. I am not checking an option because <rereads what the form says>. I don't know what to tell you about your computer issue, but as the form says I can choose not to check either option, that is what I'm doing.---Rob must have walked away, because I glance back, and at he's not longer behind me---Clara: Look, everybody just checks option 1. I don't know what to do with the computer. It's really easy, just check option 1. It means <explains it incorrectly again>

Rinse, repeat.

It was my original intake person, who continued to stare at the computer screen, who eventually said "oh! look, if I scroll down, there is a place I can make a note that the patient didn't want to check either box". And then Clara looked at that, didn't say anything, and sort of stalked away.

Given the Clara's badge said that SHE is a full-time employee, I wonder how many people she badgered into picking one of the boxes, since she didn't know that there was a place to click if you didn't want to pick either option.

Logged

I have studied many philosophers and many cats. The wisdom of cats is infinitely superior. ~ Hippolyte Taine

Sounds like Rob was quite rude, too! Not to mention completely unhelpful. So it was actually the temp worker who figured out the right answer?

I might describe that as, "Clara and Rob both spoke dismissively about my medical choice in my presence, and they pressured me to choose a different option. Clara said to Rob, as I was sitting there, 'Well, some people have problems with these boxes I guess. Some people have a lot of problems these days.' She also said to Rob, as I was sitting there, 'Most people just check option 1 and move on. This isn't a big deal.' They also both misstated the directions on the form in an attempt to make me change my medical choice to one they preferred.

Rob left with the issue unresolved. Clara then told me, 'Look, everybody just checks option 1. I don't know what to do with the computer. It's really easy, just check option 1.' These sentiments were repeated, over my objections, until after approximately 15 minutes, my original intake person, the temporary worker, realized the correct way to enter my option into the computer. Seeing this, Clara said nothing and left the reception area."

I use too many words, though... Maybe someone else can make it more concise? But I really hope that you send the letter, because it sounds like a complete fail on the part of at least two people, Rob and Clara, who should have known better.

I actually wouldn't write a letter. I'd look up "NYU hospital privacy office" and make a phone call. This was a form designed to be a release for HIPAA. If hospital employees are making it difficult to fill out, pressuring people to fill it out a certain way....the privacy office needs to know.

(As an aside, that is the WEIRDEST form I've ever seen. I go to a hospital clinic myself, and they don't do it that way.)

Thank you all for the advice & well wishes. I've thought about it over the weekend, and I'm going to send a letter as well as call. As much as it steamed me that Clara was extremely obnoxious to me, the more I think about it, the more I'm bothered by how she was pushing people to sign the way that she thought they should. I want to make sure that gets reportedly the most clearly of everything. I also will suggest they change the form to have 3 check boxes, since it'll be clearer for everybody involves what is being picked (and, as my Beloved pointed out last weekend, if you've got a form with 2 blank boxes on it & your signature, there's no reason to believe that someone won't pick a box for you later. That might be a long shot, but it's still a good point).

Logged

I have studied many philosophers and many cats. The wisdom of cats is infinitely superior. ~ Hippolyte Taine

Check with the medical center and see if they have an Ombudsperson's office. You will get a better result if you address the letter there (or call them) than if you send it to an unspecified person. I deal with a large medical center and the few problems I have had that couldn't be solved immediately have been resolved by the Ombudsperson's office. Be prepared to get few details on how they handled the problem, they will probably not tell you if they have disciplined the employee or sent her for retraining or even fired her, that is confidential between the employer and employee.

^^ Well, to be fair, I think that's only partially true. The staff is clearly untrained, which is somewhat forgivable (IMO) because it sounds like the first person wasn't being malicious or nasty, she was just confused and didn't know how to handle. If she was never shown, that's a failing on the part of the practice since they obviously didn't train her correctly.

I think the unacceptable part is that she was treated so disrespectfully and flat-out rudely by the subsequent staff, particularly the one who was commenting so harshly and made such ridiculous comments. That is the part that has the OP seeing the most red (I think) and she's absolutely correct to feel that way, IMO.

Things like policies and procedures can be taught. Being a decent human being shouldn't have to be. The woman who was bullying her (and I don't use that word lightly) into changing the form, then making the PA comments about her right in front of her..honestly, how can that even be corrected? How could she think that's acceptable or professional behavior? Completely disgusting!